RWVA Appleseed at Ramseur Sep 1 & 2

[checksix]

Thanks to Fred, SonOfMartha and all the Red Hats for a first rate marksmanship clinic weekend. You would have never known that  these instructors had just come off a week-long (Carolina August hot, tiring) bootcamp - to a man/woman they were fresh, friendly and ready to pass on knowledge. My cap is off to each one of you for making this such a valuable "muster" weekend.

K, R & D - great sharing a campfire, conversation and firing line time with you guys. M, you too for the first night. We'll stay in touch and I'll do whatever I can to support the SC contingent with your first appleseed. We'll def do some home range visits amoungst ourselves.

My first Appleseed won't be my last - and I will talk up the program.
checksix

[The Guy]

I'm glad things went well and you had a good time.  Personally, I wish I could be at Ramsuer every weekend shooting, but it is a bit o' haul from Illinois!

We need one in SC, BTW.  Got a location?

[checksix]

There were a number of SC folks in attendance (I am just across the line in NC, but since I lived in SC for 14 years perhaps I get some credit) and lots of conversation about the where and how. I think there will be some real effort to make it happen. Leaving Redcoat targets or Q&D AQT's stapled up after regular range visits might stir the pot a bit too...
checksix

[YankeeRebel]

Just wanted to thank everyone for a great time this weekend. My first Appleseed, but not my last. Now it's time to spread the word, which I'm doing. The instructors did a great job (thanks especially to DragonWood, 7.62BBQ, Scout, R*** (don't know your handle, but I appreciate your help and humor), R** (don't know yours either - sorry, but you did a great job with the history lesson, which set the tone), and, of course, Fred. We had a good turnout and it was great to see everyone make the effort - including the kids! I'm going to sew that Rifleman patch on my shooting jacket and keep practicing. Look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Best,
YankeeRebel

[Son of Martha]

  Well lessee, there were about 4 kids under 16, a lady schoolteacher who hadn't shot in a decade, another lady who tore her M1 down so fast the rifle seemed to melt in her hands.  A homeschooling family, ex-military, hunters, police, students.   A good cross sectional representation of your friends and neighbors.  With the relatively minor problem of getting range commands to the ends of the line solved by the RSOs "echoing" the commands, things went pretty smoothly.

  One of the young'uns did so well at the 25 yard range that he got to go to the other range and fire the full distance AQT.  The schoolteacher was determined to hit targets out to 300 with her AR, and despite brass burns and sight adjustment problems, she did.  30calgal had a nice impromptu class on teardown, assembly, and tools for keeping the M1 going.  The homeschooling mom left grinning after putting three well-fired shots into the 300 yard Redcoat...after all, if they need to be shot, they need to be shot well...

  Our new Red Hats did the job just as expected.  Little to no "over-teaching", range commands clear and understandable, coaching distributed evenly and age/condition appropriate.  Dragonwood (her new nickname is "Here, Stay"  ) mentioned dry-firing while baking cookies and got two proposals on the spot...so take note ladies--ditch the Mary Kay stuff and call LRB arms...    IOWA-Mark and AR-180 as RSOs and Toolman and VAshooter as coaches fit right in their niches, and Scout traded off with DW as rangemaster.  Shucks, things were being done in such a squared away fashion that I ended up twiddling my thumbs.  Must have been too obviously idle though, as Fred sidled up to me (he sidles a lot you know) and started talking about how I should have lace around the collar and officer's insignia on the cuffs.  When that happens, time to go find some work...

  A good weekend.  I know that the marksmanship ability of the attendees was measurably improved, the "Huzzah!" after the last Redcoat target evidences that;  I hope the Sleeping American in the attendees is now resting uneasily or even waking, as painful and slow as that sometimes is...

  And I hope to see ya'll again on the Appleseed Trail.


SoM

[Grin Reaper]

One of the young'uns did so well at the 25 yard range that he got to go to the other range and fire the full distance AQT.

BTW, this 12(?)-year-old was keeping up with his k98 Mauser.

Lots of Liberty Taining Rifles in attendence.  The cost of ammo need not keep people away, and this is how.
A pair of brothers (about 15 and 12 years-old) had matching ones.

I saw about 3 times as many Garands as M1A's, a first for me.

After using Junior Birdman's LTR, the sister of '8mm Mauser Boy' (above) asked, "Daddy, can we get a 10/22?"

It was a great 2 days in the NC hills.  Our new instructors had everybody thinking they'd been doing this for years.

I'll get some pics up later.

[30CalGal]

The weekend was incredable,
but how many of you can say you got kicked by Fred?

[The Guy]

Lemme guess.....






Your trigger leg wasn't up enough!





The Been Kicked A Time Or Two Guy (but not always for just that reason!)

[Grin Reaper]

a pair of brothers shooting their matching 10/22's.


a shooter from SC showing off with a sporterized 8mm Mauser; that's a receiver-mounted peep sight, not those gosh-awful stock Mauser sights.


Same gent.  Check out the lower left-hand square.  Now consider that with the sights bottomed out, he was still 2" ('And how many moa is that?') high, so he just held his point of aim low.


Talkin' 'bout RedCoats.


Surveying the RedCoat carnage.


This is how you shoot Stage 2, boys and girls!


DW presents, the seated position.


Obligatory firing line shot.


Getting recognized for a perfect Redcoat target.


Another obligatory firing line shot.


"Daddy, can we get a 10/22?"


Scout models the prone pos'n.


Tech-sights on an SKS 59/66.  This shooter produced an offhand target with 4 in the V-ring.  Nice!

I know everybody was impressed by DragonWood's cookie-baking tale, and all were careful to avoid making her turn into DragonLady.

And as somebody pointed out, "Tech-Sights and Ruger ought to be paying us royalities."

A good bunch of folks there, not that I expected anything less at an Appleseed.  Some new friends from SC are going to be hunting for a site for a Palmetto State Appleseed.  Some more compatriots promised to look for a site for a Maryland shoot.


SoM gave a Sat. a.m. Revolutionary War speech that actually gave me chills.  If you weren't there, you really missed something.

[Fred]

     Ditto to that last statement. Big time.

     Something like that is why you come to Appleseed.

     You sure won't get it anywhere else.

     The "obligatory firing line shots" are nice, showing the turnout in an impressive way.

     Next time let me show you the spot where the pics will go from an "A" to an "A+".

     Because we had 40 instructors there, GR could take the time to work with the young shooter he worked with, and that is always good. Bet he "created some memories" that will outlast him - and carry on another generation, for sure.

     Draggingwood and Scout were both dynamite.

    First class. Each of them.

[DragonWood]

My first Appleseed, as an instructor! Believe it or not, it is one year after I attended my first Appleseed and had fired a rifel for the first time.
What an experience. The sound of all the rifles going off at the same time after commanding the line to FIRE is really incredible! It took some time to find my range voice but I definitley found it by Sunday. I was able to loosen up by Sunday and added my own personality while talking/instructing. The story about baking cookies and dry firing is no tale, I really do it! I have a coach who told me not to waste any time, so I had to bribe him with some cookies!!
The Appleseed went well. If I wasn't sure on something I would find someone who was. Scout did a great job calling the line. Fred gave me some advice on what to say and when to acknoledge a shooter who did well.
The RSO guys were great, echoing the line commands so that every one could hear.
I am looking forward to my next Appleseed event in just a couple of weeks.
I ditto the comment on Ron's history talk on Sat morning. It was very moving and actually got me a little mad about all the things we now take granted for granted that our fore fathers paid dearly for.
DW

[The Guy]

SOM will probably NEVER hear my history talk.

Because I will always listen to him do it.

"Ain't no shame in being beaten by a master."

See you new Instructors on the Trail.

The Guy

[Nickle]

SOM will probably NEVER hear my history talk.

Because I will always listen to him do it.

"Ain't no shame in being beaten by a master."

See you new Instructors on the Trail.

The Guy

Same reason I always try to defer to Fred about Lexington. He's a PRO at it. I just can't get it as good, even when I throw in that I had family there.

I also am looking forward to working with some of the new Instructors, and looks they're top quality as well. Folks, come on up North sometime.

[Junior Birdman]

    Well, I'm finally back in "civilization", (It's NYC, so I use the term quite loosely), and another Boot Camp is in the books. What a time we had!   Son of Martha was our Shoot Boss, while I was the Master Instructor in attendance. 7.62 BBQ worked hard on the line all week also, whipping the troops into shape.

  Attendance was a bit sparse, but quantity was made up for, as The Guy would say, by quality.  The statistics would show that we had an almost 2 to 1 shooter/ instructor ratio, and the female contingent came in at just under 20%!  Get that ladies!  Almost 20% of the attendants were women!  I graphed this out and if this continues at the present rate we should have an all female Boot Camp before next year is over! (The graph seems to suggest that we'll all be female in less than 20 years....hmmmm  probably ought to check my math)

    Attendees began showing up Saturday afternoon, and we even got in a bit of shooting, just to warm up.  Scout, Tool Man, Son of Martha, Iowa Mark, Carnage, and I camped on the premises. Scout got the shower up and running pronto and we are each forever in his debt for smelling so good all week long. Bugs were not a problem, and I didn't even need the Tikki torches, bug spray, wipes, nets, swatters, bombs, and assorted other anti-insect measures I brought.  (Could it have been the chicken poo?)

    You February Boot Campers will be happy to know that the cold was not an issue at this camp. I graphed it out, and when you factor in the 14 degrees from February, and the 88 degrees from this camp, you come up with a comfortable 51 degrees at night, which nobody can complain about.  Daytime highs were something closer to the surface of the sun, so we had to use "Pam" cooking spray on the rifles so as not to have bare skin stick to the metal.  Only a few rounds cooked off lying in the sun on the line, but with no serious injuries. (Yeah, I know Fred, you've told me a million times not to exaggerate...)

  It rained every day but Tuesday, Friday, and the Appleseed, typical summertime thunderstorms, but I got used to the wet bedding, twigs and debris in my shorts, and mud. Makes one appreciate the dry days, and besides, no oak trees fell in my camp this year.

   A word to you folks who couldn't make this one: Plan on making your Boot Camp one where Scout will be teaching. I need only say one word: BRISKET!

   The line had a lot of 10/22's, a Garand here and there, and the usual AR15 types. One SOCOM and an occasional M14 graced the line also. Not a single FAL showed up until Friday afternoon. It was quite odd to hear the line, which had been all rimfire, (save the one M1), all week long, turn into a really LOUD MBR line by weeks end.  Such is the future of Appleseed, as more shooters discover the joys of rimfire ammo prices and training. 

   We started off each day by shooting at Red Coats. Not REAL Red Coats mind you, just the paper target ones.  We knew we had some potentially good shooters right off the bat.  In fact, Dragon Wood shot a perfect score on the Red Coats about day 3. It wouldn't be the last time she inspired us. I am always amazed at the popularity of the Red Coat targets with the shooters.

   Days were filled with 4 minute squares, AQT's and some pretty impressive NPOA drills.  AR180 shot a 243, just to show it could be done. (I'm trying hard not to hate him) We managed to spank a few pop ups and light off a couple of tracers along the way too.

    Somehow, word leaked out that a certain Red Hat had a birthday on Thursday, and much to my...um...his surprise, the gang had stayed up all night baking cakes and planning for a true surprise party on the upper range.  On the agreed upon signal, (Sam Adams), everyone burst into song and a delicious cake was produced, in which we managed to knock a serious dent.
   Who knew Fred was still hanging out in the kitchen from time to time? I guess that just because the shooting skills deem you no longer a cook, that's no reason to forget your favorite recipes.  Someone produced a FERT, (Field Expedient Reactive Target), and we had a great time reenacting the firing squad scene from "Red Dawn", complete with my best Spanish line command: "FUEGO!"  I don't think I can remember a better birthday in all my 21 years.  (Yes, I know Fred...A million and one) And, I can now say that the nightmares are over for good. Except for the SoM and Speedo ones.......

    Later, DW gave us a demonstration of the proper way to shoot the second stage, and then proceeded to drop, getting off the first round in 5.5 seconds, and finishing in 36 seconds with a score of 45.  Hmmmm......Ok, that's 5.5 seconds to get the fist round downrange, then 9 more down there, all in 36 seconds?  That's sounds like the "Rifleman's cadence" to me!  3 seconds per round, (30 seconds) plus the allotted 6 seconds to fire the first one. Why, she had a half second to spare!  Talk about your shock and awe!  I thought we were at Knob Creek!

   The drills and hard work paid off and at weeks end we had the wannabees standing at attention and shouting out the line commands, step by step. This seared the things into their memory. (Somehow, just because you've heard them all week long doesn't mean that you can say them correctly, word to the wise, future BC instructors!).  A few new terms showed up during the week, destined to be coming soon to an Appleseed near you. (Ah....Simplicity and precision. Like a breath of fresh air!)

   Something new at this BC: Nightly movies!  Yep, we were treated to the WW2 Army training films on Marksmanship, and a nice video covering the first part of the Rev War. Nightly chalk talks were held too, covering many topics near and dear to a Rifleman's heart, such as wind corrections, positions, history, etc. I noted the complete lack of popcorn though.

  Another introduction was an exam. Yes, (insert gloom and doom music here), a real life exam to determine what the troops had absorbed from the fire hose. Some questions were easy, some needed a bit of figuring to work out. Then we all thought up a few questions to ask each other.  The troops had paid attention and actually remembered some of the stuff we had been pounding into their skulls all week, and were allowed to actually sleep that night. (They had suffered under the "You can eat and sleep on Monday! It's a holiday! Rule"  all week)

   Friday was a Mock Appleseed, complete with Red Hats posing as "Doofusses" on the line, so the troops could work their positions and the CoF for the Appleseed the next day.  Dragon Wood and Scout did a smashing job of imitating real live Red Hats.  They each found their "Game face", "Range voice", and learned to deal with some especially difficult "Doofusses".  The rest spent the day as Safety Officers, walking the line and instructing.   Red Hats placed an SKS, AK47, and FAL on the line as examples of what the newbies would likely see on the line on Saturday, and they learned quickly how to safe most any kind of rifle, catching on quickly when the instructors would "plant" an unsafe condition on one of the rifles they were to clear.   As night fell, I knew the gang was ready for the trial by fire that was to come.

   Saturday broke cool, (relatively speaking), and clear, bearing the usual funk of chicken poo.  Shooters began arriving before 0730!  Talk about excited!  The newbies were treated to the traditional "Awarding of the Red Hats" ceremony, final plans were made, and soon we were off and running!

  I wish I had a recording of the history presentation given by SoM. It was truly a thing of beauty. Moist eyes and applause all around. Thanks Ron! You've really raised the bar for the rest of us, and I hope we are up to the challenge!  Shooters got the usual safety briefing and range commands and were sent to retrieve rifles and kick off the party.

   Dragon Wood led off calling the line, doing a splendid job, while Scout "volunteered" to be the positions model. After lunch, they reversed roles and Scout got to prove his mettle as "Keeper of the Stop Watch", doing a fantastic job at the helm. Red Hats abounded on the line, and although we had thirty some odd shooters, none was more than a few feet away from an instructor, as we had Grin Reaper, 7.62 BBQ, Son of Martha, and Fred on the line, in addition to the newly minted Red Hats; AR180, Tool Man, and VA Shooter. Iowa mark had to hit the road for that long journey home but his help and input all week was much appreciated. I was in my official capacity, and as such spent most of my time observing so as to glean information for the TONS of evaluation forms I would need to fill out. Saturday ended well, and we all rested well that night knowing the job had been done right. A couple of Rifleman's patches found new homes that day.

   Sunday was a late start, as we do not shoot before noon on Sundays at Ramseur. But that didn't mean we were idle!  Shooters began to arrive by 1000 and we had the line ready to go before 1100.  Dragon Wood led off with questions about the 6 steps, safety, etc, and after that refresher, the shooters were called to the line.  Again, Dragon Wood led off with the Red Coats target and one gentleman shot a perfect score on it.  When hauled before the crowd to tell how he did it, he allowed that he had simply done what he was told to do and it had worked. Who'da thunk?  More drills on squares and AQT's, and we divided up to take about a third up to the KD range, while the rest stayed below and drilled more AQT's.  Toward the end of the day, the mom on the far right of the line shot a 43 standing. Consider if you will that she hadn't shot prior to coming to the Appleseed.  Later, on the final Red Coat, she qualified out to the 300 yard level! (And she wasn't even going to come back on Sunday!) Go Elizabeth!!!!  Her husband shot, ( I think), a 49 standing, and when hauled before the crowd to explain himself,  told of how he'd simply done what we said, got a good position, NPOA, let down every now and then to rest, etc.  Dragon Wood then asked him if he had moved his feet.  He had a look of incredulity, and somewhat taken aback answered NO! (Any Doofus knows you don't move your feet after getting the NPOA!  DUH!)  This family shot so well, special thanks to Tool Man for helping out down there on that end!

  The crowd dwindled at the end of the day until the truly faithful were all that were left, and they heard a great close out by Fred.  Contacts were made for future events.  Abilities were raised. New Red Hats were produced, proving their worth on the field. We all left tired, but well satisfied at what had transpired over the last week.  I can tell you all that given the opportunity, there is no better place to be than amongst Riflemen. Make the effort to get to an Instructors Boot Camp near you. You won't regret it. A serious kind of fun.  Another Boot Camp in the books and it certainly won't be my last.  JB

[yonder]

K, R & D - great sharing a campfire, conversation and firing line time with you guys. M, you too for the first night. We'll stay in touch and I'll do whatever I can to support the SC contingent with your first appleseed. We'll def do some home range visits amoungst ourselves.

Wish I could have stayed longer.  I'm not going to offer up excuses.  Just a promise that I'm going to do this again, and I'm going to be better prepared for the next one.

[yonder]

OK I broke silence so I should fess up.

Yes, I'm the guy that went home early on Saturday.  I think I was the only one there with an old Swiss K31 straight-pull bolt action rifle.  Like I said in my last post, I'm not going to offer up excuses.  I will say that I was woefully unprepared for this event (and no I'm not blaming the rifle).  Now I have a better idea of what is expected, and what I can do to be ready for it.

The instructors were absolutely excellent.  I was a little worried at first as we did a few exercises without any instructor attention but it made more sense once the instructors started stepping in, offering good advice, and using Socratic method sometimes to help us think our way through our own issues.  Before my joints quit and my muscles were trembling, I did see a marked improvement in my group sizes and shot placement.

The ball & dummy exercise was one of the most informative for me.  I didn't even realize that I had a flinch, and I was leaning into the butt stock anticipating the recoil from the hard-hitting K31.  Apparently I was also "draggin wood".  Much to work on before my next Appleseed.  And next time, I'm caving into the peer pressure and bringing an AR.  The K31 is a fine rifle but I think I was doing 5x the work to try and keep up with the semi autos and big magazines.

[Fred]

    Great post, JB.

    Puts you right there, in the event!

    And yonder, not to worry.

    Attitude is what it is all about.

    A humble one. An "I'm willing to learn" one.

    Try as we might, seems like the Appleseed experience cannot adequately be expressed in words.

    Even gun clubs who host an Appleseed seem, often, to be surprised (and pleased), by what they see.

    So come back, with an AR (so you have NO excuse to ever have a shot out of the 5-ring ) - but first, do the 'dry-firing' drill - ten shots 'fired', in the prone position, by the numbers - three times a week on your living room carpet, or anywhere else in the house - and when you show, your body will be adjusted to the demands of the firing line.

    You'd think prone would be simple and easy - and restful. It's simply lying on your belly, right?